Negative energy balance occurs after calving when a cow is using more calories than she is eating.

Reducing the time spent in a negative energy balance by encouraging feed intake is the most important goal of transition cow management.

The transition period

The transition from late gestation to early lactation is challenging for both animals and dairy producers. Closely managing cows during this time is crucial to making sure transition goes smoothly.

The term "transition" refers to the process of a cow not producing milk (dry cow), calving, and then producing milk. The transition period was traditionally the three weeks before calving and the three weeks following calving. As we learned more about cow physiology, this period expanded to the 60 days before calving and the 30 days following. These 90 days make up the transition period.

Why the transition period matters

Managing cows correctly during the transition period is one of the most important factors for overall farm success. The calorie needs of a milking cow are massive, especially compared to a dry cow.

Within the two days after a cow calves, the energy needs of that cow more than double.

The metabolic stress associated with the increased energy demand can be dramatic.

How the cow handles this stress and moves through the transition period influences her production, health, ability to become pregnant again and ability to remain in the herd.

During the transition period, nutrient requirements increase to support fetal growth and colostrum and milk production. Dairy cows are at greatest risk of developing diseases and conditions leading to involuntary culling during this time. Monitoring the transition dairy cow is important to recognize changes in performance.

The establishment of a routine and a consistent system to collect, analyze and interpret herd records is essential to detect disruptions in performance.

Calorie needs of the transition cow

The main goal of transition cow management is to decrease the amount of time the cow spends in a negative energy balance. The more time a fresh cow spends in a negative energy balance, the higher the probability she will have a health challenge.

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The caloric needs of a recently calved cow (fresh cow) are so significant that most dairy cows do not initially eat enough to make up for the calories they are burning. This mismatch of burning more calories than the cow is taking in is a negative energy balance.

In other words, the cow is using more energy than she can acquire through her diet.

The cow then takes the energy from the only other place available to her, her own body.

This mostly results in accessing body fat stores for conversion to energy.

In extreme cases, it can mean the cow degrades muscle and bone as well.

To prevent transition cow problems, we have to reduce the amount of time the cow spends with a negative energy balance. To do that, the cow has to eat.

When a cow calves (freshens), the cow has a sudden demand for calcium in her milk. Due to complications of her physiology, the cow cannot access calcium in her body from her diet or her bones as she usually would.

The inability to properly regulate calcium results in a lack of bio-available calcium for a cow's normal bodily function.

Calcium is a principal component of the muscle contraction process, and when it is not available, muscles do not contract appropriately.

In a clinical case, the result is a cow that is unable to stand.

The transition period allows opportunities to provide supplementation or to feed in a certain way both before calving and post-calving to minimize these problems.

Detect problems early

Monitoring during the transition period can be used to detect disruptions in performance under existing management conditions or measure the impact of an intervention or change in management. When used correctly, monitoring methods are very important to support management decisions and motivate management or employee behavioral change on a dairy farm.

Monitoring guidelines

Many approaches can be used to monitor the transition dairy cow, depending on farm goals. When establishing a monitoring routine at a dairy farm, choose parameters that are practical and useful to address the problems at hand.

The ideal monitoring routine must:

Have a minimum delay between causes and effect (lag).

Not mask any recent changes when using historical data (momentum).

Detect differences across the population (variation).

Not contain misleading information (bias).

Unfortunately, it is not possible to achieve all these features using a single monitored parameter and a combination of parameters is often used to analyze the performance of transition dairy cows.

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Appropriate stocking density, depending on breed and parity, is important to prevent negative health and production outcomes in early lactation.

Stocking density during the far-off period should not exceed 100 percent of headlocks.

For the close-up period the ideal stocking density varies according to breed: 80 percent for Holsteins and up to 100 percent for Jerseys, based on headlocks.

Other cow comfort parameters such as heat abatement and stall design are essential to minimize stress during the transition period. Appropriate stall design, size and bedding management will improve animal use of the beds, improve lying time and improve milk production.

Body condition scoring (BCS) is another simple and effective monitoring parameter that can be used to assess the nutritional status of dairy cows.

Determine BCS at dry-off, calving and peak milk production (around 60 days into lactation).

If excessive loss or gain of BCS is observed, nutritional changes can be made to remedy the situation.

Monitoring total milk production during the first two to three months of lactation and peak milk production can be useful when assessing a cow’s performance during the transition period.

Unfortunately, monitoring milk production has many limitations including a considerable time between calving and peak milk production. This 50 to 90 day interval is too long to wait to make needed changes to improve animal health and performance.

Do not use peak milk production as a stand-alone parameter to monitor the transition period.

Fresh cow health is critical for their wellbeing and performance. More than 35 percent of all dairy cows, however, have at least one clinical disease event (metabolic or infectious) during the first 90 days in milk.

Because of that, it is recommended to observe fresh cows daily during the first two weeks of lactation. This practice will help you identify sick animals in a timely manner.

Monitoring disease events in the first few weeks of lactation provides a useful insight into how effectively management supports cows during the transition period.

Determining herd alarm levels for disease prevalence is important when monitoring cows during the transition period. See the table below for herd alarm levels and cost per case for the most common diseases observed in dairy cows.

Herd alarm levels and cost per case for dairy cow diseases

Disease

Cost per case

Herd alarm

Hyperketonemia (subclinical ketosis)

$289

15%

Clinical hypocalcemia

$150

3%

Subclinical hypocalcemia

$150

30%

Displaced abomasum

$700

3%

Retained fetal membranes (RP)

$232

5%

Metritis

$218

10%

Mastitis

$376

3%

The prevalence of hyperketonemia, clinical and subclinical hypocalcemia, displaced abomasum, retained fetal membranes and metritis should be calculated as number of cases divided by the number of fresh cows within a month. The prevalence of mastitis is normally calculated as number of clinical cases divided by number of milking cows within a month.

It is important for farmers, veterinarians and nutritionists to routinely monitor the feed of dairy cows as it is delivered to the animals to determine if the feed matches the formulated diets.

Monitoring the feed bunk between feedings and the amount of refusals is important to gather information about sorting and feed push-up frequency.

Feed information can be used to determine necessary management adjustments required to maximize dry matter intake.

Recommended feeding, bunk management and cow management during the transition period

Management practice

Goal

Removal of old feed from bunk

Daily

Availability of feed

at least 23 hours/day

Feed push-up

Every 4 hours

Refusals (feed)

3-5%

Eating space

at least 24 inches/head

Water availability

at least 4 linear inches/head

*Stocking density

Far-off dry cows

100%

**Close-up dry cows

80-100%

Fresh cows

80%

Pre-partum dry matter intake

Primiparous

at least 22 lbs/day

Multiparous

at least 26 lbs/day

Post-partum dry matter intake

Primiparous

at least 34 lbs/days

Multiparous

at least 42 lbs/day

Additional cow comfort parameters

Social grouping

Separate parity groups

Hock scoring

more than 80% of cows without hock lesions

Body condition score

Dry-off

2.75 to 3.5

Calving

2.75 to 3.5

Peak milk production (~60 DIM)

2.5 to 3.25

Cow behavior

more than 60% of lying cows chewing their cud 2 hours after feeding

*Stocking density calculated based on headlocks, not stalls.

**Recommended close-up dry cows stocking density varies depending on breed and demographics of the pen. A lower stocking density (80%) is beneficial for Holstein cattle and in herds where multiparous and primiparous animals are housed together. Higher stocking density (100%) can be used in Jersey cattle herds without negative effects on health and performance post-partum.